mgajewski

Perhaps - but what happens when you add and connect another curve? Strange things happen... And also the arrow does jump back and forth sometimes even on a clean curve - that's been my experience.

When editing sweep guide curves the cyan colored sweep direction arrow seems to jump unpredictably from one end of the guide curve to the other or, if a new segment is added - who knows where to... Is there a way of controlling its direction and the start point and telling it "stay!" ?

I'm not sure if this should be an enhancement request but when doing sweeps and lofts there does not seem to be a way to specify whether the swept or lofted sections are to be parallel to the first section or to the guide curve. This is really a pretty essential feature to have, especially with sweeps... or is there a way to do that already?

Thanks Robert - I appreciate it. I feel a bit frustrated I do not have a good, really in-depth manual for IC. If one existed (perhaps it does?) I'd certainly buy it. Mark

I created a lofted surface, then used "close loft" command and got a closed surface. I thought IC says somewhere that closed surfaces become solids. But this "closed loft" is closed AND hollow on the inside. So could we clear up the whole issue of turning surfaces into solids? Is there a direct way to do it or do we need to do it by using surfaces to cut exisiting solids?

Let's say I've created a freeform surface - like a flag waving gently, and it of course has a zero thickness. How do I thicken it - say, make it into a .100in thick solid? BTW - I think a "thicken surface" command would be extremely useful. I use it with another program and can create a surface, thicken it to an inch or several inches and now I very quickly have a freeform solid. I guess this is also an enhancement request... Mark

The file and comments are both very helpful but I still need to achieve that "bar of soap" effect of all-around rounding which I am having difficulty with. Lofts - they always seem to end up with pointy ends. So please give me more on the subject

I'd like to model a flat rounded blob object, much like a flat rounded river stone, and, (if possible but not a must), to be able to tug and pull at it to change it. If anyone can suggest a good approach to this project I'd appreciate it. Mark

I use that method often since Ctrl C and Ctrl V seems to be erratic. However, I'd prefer to use Ctrl C and Ctrl V because it's lightning quick. I'd like to know what makes it erratic and be able to make it consistent and predictable. Or perhaps it's a bug...

I think we need to tackle one thing at a time...

When I do Ctrl Copy and Paste (Ctrl C and Ctrl V) on a part sometimes the copy gets copied in the exact same spot as the original and sometimes it flies off to some weird distant location. Is there a method or reason to this or am I doing something wrong?

I am going to take a look at the renderers Carlo suggested (and thanks for the suggestions!) and I agree with him that having a high quality renderer integrated inside of IC would be best, especially if it is set up in the usual simple and easy to use IC-style manner. If anyone else thinks having a great renderer is important please voice your support Mark

Carlo, I love your art and the presentations - thanks for sharing. The renderings are indeed superb - this is the kind of quality artists and designers need. It would be great if IC could approach Final Render and ask them to integrate their rendering software into IC under license. I for one would certainly pay a few hundred bucks extra for that. IC could market this new integrated version of IC as a new IC Designer package... for those who need and appreciate those capabilities. And that would distance IC even further away from the pack. Mark

Tom, You're probably right but the fact that IC is good leaves me hungry for more - like radiosity, for instance. Or the ability to control the mapping of the reflected image. And a bunch of other things I can't think of right now because it's late... There are some amazing things that 3ds Max or LightWave can do - and I just mean realism not just goofy special effects. It's never good to rest on one's laurels... Mark

Amen!! IronCAD may be hutrting itself more that they realize by neglecting the rendering side of their products. When all is said and done it is often the dynamite presentation that sells the concept and who knows how many product designers walk away when they read about IC's rendering capabilities... More's the pity because IC is otherwise GREAT for intuitive creative design process preferred by artists and product designers. Mark

Got it. Thanks, Tom. (BTW yes, I did mean Surfaces and Blend, not planes and fillet - I need to be more careful... )

Shift-selecting multiple edges while creating fillets works fine but I don't think that is possible with multiple planes - is that a bug or is there a way to shift-click on several planes to select their edges for filleting? Mark

To have the ability to do these things with the TriBall is just great - very powerful - thanks for great tips! Item 5 - I did mean at the time of creation - I still do not know how to force the newly added segments to be tangent to the existing ones. Mark

Perhaps I am missing a huge chunk of information but I do not know how to perform elementary operations to edit 3D curves 1. How do I move individual control points on a bezier 3D curve with a TriBall? 2. How do I trim and extend a 3D curve? 3. How do I constrain the movement of a 3D bezier curve control point to a plane (it seems to me that those 3D beziers have minds of their own when I try to adjust them...) 4. How do I make 3D bezier curve control points snap to objects/faces etc.? 5. How do I attach other segments (lines, arcs, beziers) to a 3D curve and force tangencies to be preserved? I now feel that my 3D curves are pretty much completely out of control and therefore I cannot realize their huge potential. Any tips on the above questions (or any other important 3D curve creation/editing tips) would be appreciated. Thanks. Mark

Is there a way to create a keyboard shortcut for the pointer arrow, especially in the 2D create/edit mode? Mark

I'll try that, Kevin, but I like the artistic effect of "messy" shadows sometimes. BTW on second thoughts there may be something in what Alex suggested. Perhaps when I have parts intersecting with other parts in a way that's not "clean" the ragged edges can create rogue reflections... Mark

Thanks Robert - that worked fine. Mark

Thanks, Tom - that's very helpful. Mark

Is there a way to remove an individual button from a toolbar? Mark